by D. B. Goodin
Jet couldn’t find Ash anywhere that she had access to in the complex. She was about to go exploring a bit further out when she heard laughter from the recreation room. She entered to find April focused on an arrangement of a set of gears that Jet hadn’t noticed were in the room.
“April, are you okay?” Jet asked.
“Jet?” April giggled. “Ready to get online?” she asked while holding a pair of VR glasses.
Jet was stunned. April showed no physical signs of damage, but last night, it had looked like her skin had burned.
“Remarkable, isn’t it?” Ash said as she walked in.
Where the hell did she come from? Jet thought.
“Yes. Whatever you gave her cleared her skin. I can’t even tell that she was injured,” Jet said.
“Delta’s skin is special. A friend of mine—who is no longer with us—developed it. It can withstand physical damage to a high degree and heal rapidly,” Ash said.
“I don’t understand. Last night you said something about some aquatic disease—”
“Aquagenic urticaria. I thought it was something we got out of her during her transformation. When I examined her last night, there was nothing physically wrong. Additional study is required, but I think these reactions are some kind of muscle memory,” Ash said.
“Let’s play!” April said as she thrust the VR goggles up to Jet’s face.
“Go ahead, play with her. We will talk later,” Dr. Ash said as she made her way toward the door.
April had everything set up. These VR goggles were a new wireless model; at home, Jet had a beta of an older, cheaper model.
“What level is your character in the Colossal Machine?” Jet asked.
“Around sixty. I was just able to get my private area,” April said.
“Good. We may need to use it in case my microcosm is . . . gone.”
“I have my room all set up. I even have a picture of Grandpa and me.”
Jet put on the VR goggles, calibrated them, and then logged into the Colossal Machine. She added Delta to her friends list. Her heart sank when she saw Nigel’s name there.
We will be together soon, Jet thought.
“April, add me to your Friends list. My screen name is—”
“JetaGirl,” April interrupted.
“Yes, but how did you know?”
“I figured you would use something related to your name. Lev also helped.”
“Oh,” Jet said.
Seconds later, Jet was standing in the ruins of her beloved microcosm: her pets slaughtered, her mage tower in ruins. The waterfall and river were dry. She could see the remains of her pets. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble; destroying her microcosm was one thing, but going out of one’s way to kill virtual creatures in such a cruel manner was disturbing.
That winged bastard!
She remembered the battle she’d had the last time she’d logged in. The other player must have been using some sort of exploit; she had felt her avatar being drained of her powers. The Colossal Machine didn’t equip players with magic like other games. There were no mana pools to manage—only reagents. In theory, players could cast an infinite number of spells, but they had to carry reagents, which took up space and weight in their backpacks. Since most of these reagents had to be carried on the mage in order for these spells to work, that was the limiting factor. The power, potency, and effect of these spells depended on the players’ magical abilities.
“He must have been using an exploit!” Jet said.
“Who?” April asked.
“My microcosm is destroyed. I think the person responsible was using cheats,” Jet said.
“That’s not nice!” April said.
“April, are you at your microcosm?”
“Yeah, but there is something wrong with it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It looks like it is tearing itself apart.”
“Does your character have the magic ability? Can you summon me?” Jet asked.
“I have magic, but I don’t think I know that spell.”
“You should. That is one of the few spells that gets added to your spell book when you learn the magical ability,” Jet explained.
April examined her spell book.
“I see it!” April said.
April tapped on Jet’s character in the virtual interface. Since she had VR goggles, she saw a three-dimensional representation of Jet’s avatar.
“Sum-Ur-Por-Vel,” April chanted as she waved her arms in the air. The game didn’t require any hand gestures to use magic, but most people did because it seemed like the wizardly thing to do.
Jet heard a loud gong sound as it displayed the following message:
MonkeyGirl has sent you a summons. Do you accept?
Jet accepted the invitation.
Getting summoned to another player’s microcosm was an interesting experience, and it could be disorienting at first. Jet opened her eyes and saw April’s in-game avatar; she was tall, slender, and wore the simple robes of a novice spell caster. Jet’s eyes were drawn to a photo of April and Jeremiah on a table near a wall. It looked . . . strange, but she didn’t know why.
“I’ve never seen those robes before. What rank of mage are you?”
“I’m not a mage anymore. I’m a Magi,” Jet said.
“What’s a Magi?”
“It is the highest rank of spell caster there is in the current revision of the Colossal Machine.”
“Wow!”
“At this rank, I no longer require reagents for spells below level seven. Most mages in the Colossal Machine don’t have mana pools to manage since there are reagents; however, the rank of Magi has this mana burden,” Jet explained.
Jet’s eye was yet again drawn to the photo, and a greenish glow emanated from around the frame.
April shrieked.
“What’s wrong?” Jet said.
“I saw something from there.”
Jet followed April’s hand; she was pointing to something just above the picture. From Jet’s angle, she couldn’t tell what April was pointing at. Jet shifted positions until she was behind April. She could see a small tear in the fabric of the Colossal Machine. The greenish glow was brighter from this angle. Closer examination revealed a large, bloodshot eyeball peering in from the other side of the wall.
“Is that a Dark Denizen?” April asked.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure what that is.”
Freeman was happy with his progress so far. He had stripped the powers from at least two dozen people and turned himself into the character that he always wanted. Freeman checked his stats pool. Because of his exploit, he had 999 out of a possible 800 skill points. While Freeman enjoyed having a supreme fighter/mage character, he realized that his skills imbalance was a potential problem.
Pretzelverse Games security sucks if I can get this far, Freeman thought.
He could address that problem after he drained the powers of that particular Magi; he felt that he was now prepared to defeat her. He respected her skills. She was the only one who had come remotely close to defeating him. He was eager to take her powers. He added her name, “JetaGirl,” to his watch list. Normally, adding players to private lists required the consent of both players to prevent stalking, but Freeman was able to get around that with some exploit code.
Freeman floated in the void between worlds, and he could see several potential targets, but nothing interested him. People with microcosms were wealthy gamers, but sometimes they created the most mundane worlds. Some people decorated their microcosms like their homes, while others were more elaborate. Freeman liked the way the Magi girl’s microcosm was built. He was about to log out of the game, but just as his virtual hand was on the logout button, a message from his HUD caught his attention.
JetaGirl is online.
Ahh, now for some fun!
Freeman opened the developer’s section of his HUD. He added “JetaGirl,” and could see where his prey was. It was another player’s m
icrocosm. Even better!
Freeman floated in space, between various player microcosms. Light shone through the microcosm that contained Jet. He noticed a small crack in it: a peephole. Freeman changed his corporeal form to that of a disgusting creature he had assembled using the developer tools: a form that Freeman was sure resembled nothing else in the Colossal Machine. His new form had large eyeballs, tentacles, and a huge, misshapen mouth. Green slime ran down its face. Freeman looked through the peephole with his new eye, but his vision was distorted. It’s because of the shape of his new eye, Freeman thought. He saw JetaGirl with a newbie mage girl.
Let’s rock their world!
Using one of his tentacles, Freeman started chipping away at the hold in the microcosm. The newbie mage girl screamed. Freeman smiled at her, and his tongue flopped out inside the room of the microcosm. It was a grotesque sight to behold.
“In-Flam-Mod-Fil,” Jet said as she cast the sear spell. A wall of flame ignited on the creature’s disgusting tongue. She could see bubbles of flesh burn. The creature pulled back. Its tentacles started flapping about in a spasmodic rhythm. Why can’t I cast? Freeman thought as a wave of panic set in. Freeman was having so much fun that he hadn’t seen the warning message that displayed on his HUD:
Warning: I cannot cast spells in current form.
Freeman had created this monstrosity on the fly, and he hadn’t had the time to factor in the balance equations. It had limited him to melee skills, but some of the options were devastating. Let’s try out this! Freeman created and flung out a series of green globes that splattered upon contact. He took 90 percent of April’s health, and almost half of Jet’s. Jet cast her shield spell, pursued by a series of lesser heal spells. She could see additional green globes smashing against the shield, which was weakening. She recast the shield spell and checked her mana pool. It was more than halfway depleted. The globes ripped a larger hole in the microcosm’s side. Jet could see empty space and the entire creature now. She also saw other microcosm’s floating in the distance.
“In-Cade-For-Dom,” Jet said as she cast the banish spell. A cage formed over the entire creature; a few seconds later, the creature was gone.
“What did you do?” April asked.
“I used the banish spell,” Jet said. She looked at her mana bar; it showed a value of 1/2000.
“And from the looks of it, I barely had enough mana to cast it.”
“Where did you send it?”
“That’s a good question. I think it gets sent to a random location within the Colossal Machine,” Jet said.
“Will it come back?” April said.
“Whoever is behind it is cheating, so that is possible. I think that is enough training for one day,” Jet said.
The world of the Colossal Machine was fun, but sometimes things got strange. Having a large eye stare at you through a wall was one of those “strange” moments.
Jet pointed at the fissure with her staff and cast Un-Cras-Por-Cad: the “close fissure” spell. Blue light glowed from the crystal on the end of the staff. Jet heard a crackling sound as the fissure closed.
“Neat! I tried that the last time I was here, and the fissure opened wider,” April said.
“Spells in the Colossal Machine have both positive and negative effects. In most online games if a spell doesn’t work, then nothing happens, but in the machine there are consequences—good or bad—for every action,” Jet explained.
“How do you know so much about the Colossal Machine?” April asked. “Did you develop it?”
“No. I’m just a huge fan of the game. I have tested each version, and the developers send me invitations to special events not open to the public. I have played each version of the game, and know how it works inside and out.”
“What do you want to do in the Colossal Machine today?”
“Where have you traveled?”
“I’ve been to an area called the Gardens of Light,” April replied. “It is an area where fairy creatures fly around. It is very colorful. However, the edge of that zone leads to a dead area of scorched stones. There are some tall statues there. I got scared and left that place.”
“That area is called Darkow,” Jet explained. “It is a training area for Magi. It is a very high level. At the far end of that zone is a network of caves. It is rumored that Dark Denizens dwell there, but I’ve never seen them. In fact, I’ve only visited there to complete the final trials of the Magi.”
“Grandfather said that the game is also used for learning new things. Since you are a game expert, where do you think I should start?”
“I would suggest that you start in the Timemaker’s Terrace. It’s a hub between worlds. There are shamans there who will help guide you. One goal of Pretzelverse Games was to create an open world to teach and entertain. So, if you wanted to learn about math, a shaman would direct you to the Equation Grotto, an area with puzzles involving mathematics.”
“Math is boring,” April said.
“Math is a useful skill in the world of the Colossal Machine. Knowing it will not only help you solve puzzles and complete quests, but once the game senses you have a mathematical affinity, it will grant intelligence bonuses. Perfect for mages.”
“What other things can the game teach me?”
“Most online games teach skills that don’t translate to the real world, but that is where the Colossal Machine is different. The developers have designed the game to teach while allowing a player to have a great time. Another example is strategy. Remember what it was like to learn chess?” Jet asked.
“Yeah, it was tough. It was hard to understand how certain things about the game worked. The horsey guy was hard to figure out until you showed me some different ways to move him,” April said.
“Imagine learning while casting magic. Suppose you are trying to teleport across a canyon that is three hundred feet long by four hundred feet wide. You can apply the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the distance for the spell. Remember that failed spells destroy your reagents, so you have a vested interest in calculating correctly. To solve the problem, you already have two variables for the lengths, so calculating the shortest distance and angle makes it easy when applied,” Jet explained.
“Wow, I never thought of it that way. I guess learning is fun,” April said.
“I created a game modification that will load templates from your school workbook so you can apply math problems to spells in-game. Try it,” Jet said.
Jet worked with April for several hours. As she predicted, April could solve all the practice problems at a much faster rate while in the game. With Jet’s help, she not only learned how to solve the math problems, but her character also leveled up and discovered a few new spells.
“It’s almost 6:00 p.m. Dinner will be ready soon,” April said.
“We should log out in your microcosm. It is a safe area,” Jet said.
Seconds later, they arrived at April’s microcosm. Jet showed April how to grant friends access to the microcosm. She gave Jet co-owner permissions.
They were about to log out when the fissure reopened, much wider this time. A greenish liquid oozed in, a pair of claws came out of the opening, and wails and grunting noises filled the microcosm. The room’s ambient light was dissipating.
“What’s going on?” April asked.
Before Jet could answer, the fissure widened, and a creature popped out and let out a battle cry that made April jump. The creature looked like a cross between a salamander and a goose. Its large, reptilian mouth snapped at April. Its tongue darted out, trying to latch on to them. Jet raised her staff and cast a lightning spell, which ripped through the creature. Its wings started flapping as it screeched. Jet hit the creature again, but it kept coming.
“Damn, I’ll have to hit it with the most powerful spell I have.”
As Jet consulted her inventory, the salamander thing’s tongue latched on to April’s throat. Its wings flapped and its webbed feet waddled as it started pulling her closer.
Jet cast the “apocalypse” spell, and several rings of energy emanated around Jet. The first was a ring of flame; subsequent rings had different properties, such as volcanic rock and acid. The salamander let out a loud croaking sound before collapsing into a heap of charred flesh.
“Whoa, that was so cool. What spell did you use?” April asked.
“An apocalypse spell—a level-seven spell that kills any creature within a small radius of the caster. One major downside is attracting the attention of a Dark Denizen,” Jet said.
“Do they always come when magic is used?”
“It depends how busy they are, I guess. Now that players can be Dark Denizens, they can come when alerted.”
The next morning, Jet noticed April was already geared up and ready to play.
“Hey, weren’t you going to wait for me?” Jet said.
April froze and gave Jet an embarrassed expression.
“That looks funny!” Jet said.
Jet and April shared a laugh.
“Wow, these Dark Denizens are powerful in the game!” April said.
“Yeah, that was a close call. Let’s get geared up for the battle of the Dark Denizens,” Jet said
“Yeah!” April said as she put on her VR gear and jacked into the ’verse.
Jet was about to do the same when she noticed Jeremiah entering the room with Ash.
This can’t be good.
“Josephine!” Jeremiah called. “A word, please.”
“April is already logged into the game. I need to be in there to guide her,” Jet said.
“This won’t take long.”
“We’re concerned at the rate at which Delta is learning. You promised that her progress would increase, but the improvement so far has been marginal,” Ash said.
“When I started working with her, the rate of progress was more than forty-four days away from optimal. I checked this morning, and it is less than twenty,” Jet said.
